It is customary for tire manufacturers to inspect both the exterior and interior surfaces of new motor vehicle tires for possible defects before releasing the tires from the manufacturing facility. And, a thorough inspection of the interior of a tire is performed prior to retreading a worn tire.
Numerous machines have been devised for facilitating these inspections. Such machines have usually been capable of supporting a tire in an upright position, spreading opposed bead regions of the tire to expose its interior, and rotating the tire to progressively expose the entire interior of the carcass for inspection.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,273, granted Nov. 24, 1992, "TIRE INSPECTION APPARATUS" discloses a machine which greatly facilitates inspection of heavy truck tires. That apparatus had provisions for rolling a tire into place on a support structure while that structure was in a lowered position and then elevating the support structure to a more comfortable inspecting position for the operator. The Background Art section of that patent discloses several earlier tire inspection machines, and that section is incorporated herein by reference.
Many prior inspection machines, including the machine disclosed in my prior patent, require the operator/inspector to move around the machine to insure thorough inspection of the tire. This can be time-consuming for the operator/inspector.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,589,771, granted Mar. 18, 1952, to R. E. Campell, et al. for a "TIRE SPREADER" discloses a machine in which the tire support and spreading mechanism is rotatably mounted on an upright standard. Because the tire support mechanism is freely rotatable, handling a tire thereon can be awkward.
Thorough tire inspection also requires adequate lighting. Some prior inspection apparatus, like that shown in my prior patent, have included upright standards supporting a bank of lights above the tire. Others, such as the apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,853,146, granted Apr. 12, 1932, to W. G. Prentice, et al., for "TIRE MACHINE", included a lamp which was pivotally mounted for swinging movement into and out of the interior of the tire.